Rope-clamp



(No Model.)

T. B. ROGERS.

Rope Clamp. No. 243,305. Patented June 21,1881;

V UNITED STATES PATENT Ounce.

THOMAS B. ROGERS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

ROPE-CLAM P.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 1\l'o. 243,305, dated June 21, 1881.

Application filed April 23,1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS E. ROGERS, a resident of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oord or Rope Holding Devices and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification.

My invention relates to clamping edges or. jaws closing toward each other, so as to bite and hold a rope or cord inserted between them and it consists in producing an automatic movement of one jaw or clamping-edge toward its opposed edge, to close against it by means of an eye or other frictional device formed in or upon the plate, bar, or wire carrying the clam ping-edge, the frictional device being arranged and adapted to so engage the rope or cord led through it, and thence to and between the opposed edges, as that tension upon the outer end of the rope will draw the clamping-edge toward the opposed edge, and cause it to bite the rope and hold it with a gripe which becomes firmer and stronger in proportion as the pull upon the rope is increased. Both jaws may be thus arranged to move, or one of them may be fixed, leaving the other to move alone. The jaws are preferably formed in plates or frames arranged to slide one upon the other, the frictional device consisting of an eye in the outer end of the plate or frame.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan view of the device, showing one of the plates held fast by a cord tied thereto, and with a single cord led through the opposite plate and clamped between the jaws and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 shows, in side elevation, the device when constructed so that one of the plates may be rigidly secured to a fixed support, and illustrates, also, the substitution of lugs for an eye in producing the friction between the cord and plate required to produce an automatic movement of the plate to close the jaw. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the device when used to secure and tie together the ends of two separate cords.

A A are plates of thin metal, placed one upon the other, and held together by pins D D from the one, passing through slots E E in the other, or by any equivalent device which will permit them to slide to a limited extent, but confine them in juxtaposition. An opening, B, is cut or formed in each plate near one end thereof. The front or outer edge, W, of each opening B serves, in closing toward the counterpart edge in the corresponding opening in the opposite plate, as a clamping-jaw, to bite and hold a cord or rope inserted through the openings. At the outer end of each of these superimposed plates A A an eye, F, is formed, through which the rope R to be fastened is led before being passed between the jaws W W. The rope R is thus made to bind or engage the plate sufficiently to produce a movement thereof or a tension thereon whenever the rope is pulled. The movement of the plate A thus produced operates to draw the clamping-edge W, formed at its other end, toward the elampingedge W of the second plate, A, and as this second plate is either fixed, as showh in Figs. 1 and 3, or drawn in the opposite direction, as shown in Fig. 4, the two edges or jaws W W will be thereby automatically closed upon the end of the ropeinserted between them. The harder the pull and strain upon the rope the tighter will be the gripe of the jaws upon it.

Instead of passing the rope through an eye, F, at the outer end of the plate, it may be led around or between projecting pins or lugs G G G, Fig. 3, which will operate as an equivalent for the eye F in binding the rope sufficiently to cause it to produce the tension upon the plate A required to close its clamping-jaw W.

\Vire frames may be substituted for the frames A A, as an equivalent therefor; and my invention is not limited to the special manner herein described of joining together the plates or frames carrying the jaws.

My invention is not confined to any special manner of joining or hinging the plates carryin g the jaws, its essential peculiarity being the combination, with either movable jaw, of the clamping device, and with the rope to be secured thereby, of a device adapted to engage the rope and actuate the jaw, so that tension upon the rope willbe transmitted through said device to the jaw and cause it to close upon the end of the rope.

The clamping-jaws are preferably made to present to the rope a V shape or re-entrant acute angle, as shown in the drawings. The edges may be roughened or serrated to hold Wires as Well as ropes; and a series of two or more jaws may be arranged in the device for securing simultaneously two or more cords or lines.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A line-holder having plates or frames A A, sliding one upon the other, and carrying'jaws J. T. AOKER, J 1 IRVING DICKINSON. 

